This year, six McMaster Engineering alumni join a community of highly accomplished engineers as Fellows of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE).
“My deepest congratulations to this year’s Fellows for your well-deserved recognition from the CAE,” says Ishwar K. Puri, dean and professor, who was inducted as a Fellow of the CAE in 2017. “I am privileged to work alongside these distinguished engineers, each who are part of the McMaster Engineering community, first as students, and now by continuing to create lasting impact as professionals and mentors.”
“Over the past 33 years, Fellows of the Academy have provided engineering leadership in the fields of education, infrastructure, innovation and many more. We expect the new Fellows to expand upon these contributions to the prosperity, well-being and sustainability of Canada and its people. The new Fellows apply engineering principles from widely varying backgrounds, from Industry, Academe and Government, but they all have in common the demonstrated desire and ability to go beyond the normal practice of engineering and serve as role models in their fields and to their communities,” says CAE President Yves Beauchamp.
Fellows of the Academy are elected for their distinguished achievements and career-long service to the engineering profession and are committed to ensuring that Canada’s engineering expertise is applied to the benefit of all Canadians.
Last year, 12 McMaster Engineering-affiliated professionals joined the CAE, including Catherine Crewe, Stephen Elop, Stephen Howe, James Politeski, Geordie Rose, Howard Shearer, Donna Strickland, Gina Succi, Robert Tong and Carole Wilson.
The newest McMaster Engineering-affiliated CAE members include:
Waguih Ishak is a visionary chief technologist with an outstanding record of fostering and inspiring innovation. He has established state-of-the-art research laboratories at several global high-tech companies, most recently the Corning Technology Center in Silicon Valley, which is a powerhouse for the development of new innovations related to high-speed interconnect, novel display, solid-state illumination, and embedded sensor technologies. As an international leader in optics and photonics research, and a successful technology entrepreneur, he is driven by his appreciation for technology R&D for the betterment of our society. Waguih received his Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Cairo University, his Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Ain Shams University, his Master of Engineering and PhD in Electrical Engineering from McMaster University. He also received the Stanford Executive Program from Stanford University.
“I’m honored to be elected a Fellow of the CAE. Throughout my career of 50 years in engineering, I must admit that the education I received at McMaster University from 1973 to 1978 was key to my contributions at the industrial research labs I worked for. The fundamentals of electrical engineering and applied physics, from courses, professor mentoring, seminars and laboratories taught at McMaster gave me an advantage and formulated my research style for the next 40 years.
Additionally, and recently, I have been following McMaster Engineering and I’m still getting inspired with what Ishwar and his team are doing – from Big Ideas, The Pivot, labs, collaborations, and seminar series. As a Fellow of CAE, I will continue the trend of promoting innovation methods to take new ideas from conception to final products.”
Faizel Lakhani is a recognized expert in pioneering Analytics and Security. With experience in network intelligence, enterprise security, big data analytics and Internet of Things applications, he has dedicated his career to building and transforming businesses. He speaks and writes on application of technology to markets and intelligence required for leveraging Analytics and Security. With a distinguished career working with and for Fortune 1000 companies, Lakhani is a member of the Forbes Technology Council, writing articles for the Council about the challenges and disruptions in network intelligence, security, and analytics. With 12 patents in various areas of innovation, Lakhani received his Bachelor of Engineering from McMaster Engineering, Masters in Engineering from Carleton University and his Masters of Business Administration from the University of Ottawa.
“I am honored to be elected to as a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. My foundations of engineering were built at McMaster. I learned how to think and solve problems that I did not understand well, which then accelerated my entrepreneurial desires to build and grow technology-driven businesses.”
Lawrence Tse has contributed to the development of integrated circuits and communication systems by advancing the design, development, product engineering and testing, and the technical management of this R&D. As a visionary leader with a track record of inspiring innovation, Tse understands how to develop technologies from concept to prototype development to production. He has shown the vision and motivational to create successful engineering teams, expanding and implementing engineering research and development within the corporate environment. Tse has been awarded more than 40 US patents in the field of semiconductors integrated circuits that today are integral to our electronic devices. Tse graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering in electrical engineering from McMaster, and completed his Master of Science at the University of California, Berkeley.
“It is a great honour to be elected to the CAE. My years as a student at McMaster enabled me to form a solid foundation to solve practical engineering problems—making contributions to society with the Silicon chips my colleagues and I have developed throughout the years. The most rewarding part of my career has been tackling technical challenges.
It’s really one of the best feelings to be able to do what I love every day as my job and have fun at the same time. As a CAE fellow, I would work with the university and industry to jointly establish a creative and fun environment for all of our engineering students.”
Duncan Hannay is an entrepreneurial leader with over 25 years of leadership experience at the intersection of financial services and technology. He has an exemplary record of building and growing technology businesses, having architected and participated in numerous disruptive technologies, strategies and go-to-market campaigns including the introduction of E*TRADE in Canada – now branded as Scotia iTRADE – where the wealth management establishment was turned on its ear and empowered Canadians to take control of their investments on a digital-first self-directed platform that eliminated the high cost of investing through traditional channels. Hannay has a Bachelor of Engineering from McMaster University.
“I truly appreciate the recognition from the Canadian Academy of Engineers. The profession of Engineering and my ongoing involvement with McMaster has been a meaningful force in my professional life. I believe that Engineering is the Liberal Arts degree of the future and look forward to helping strengthen diversity and modernizing its delivery through my involvement with the Dean’s Advisory Board at McMaster.”
Roger Tong’s 30 year career has spanned various positions in different industries across the communications sector. He began as an engineer at COM DEV Ltd in Cambridge, Ontario, as one of the founding members of the Space Science Department. From there, he travelled the globe, continuing his career in Asia. In 2008, he joined AsiaSat as Vice President of Engineering and was promoted to CTO in 2016 and CEO in 2018. By constantly challenging prevailing norms on spacecraft design, Roger has been raising the bar in satellite manufacturing. His current interests include developing system concepts and applications for next-generation satellites. Tong received his Bachelor and Master of Engineering from McMaster, his Master of Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University, and his Doctor of Business Administration from the University of Newcastle.
“It is a privilege and an honour to be inducted as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering along with my McMaster alumni. As a first-generation immigrant from Hong Kong and brought up under a very different educational system, my years at McMaster have helped to open my mind, allowing me to learn from and adapt the best practices of both worlds.
I would like to thank Professor John Litva for his encouragement and patience in guiding me through my years of Master of Engineering program. Special appreciation goes to McMaster’s Faculty of Engineering for providing best of the class training for two of my siblings, so that each of us have been able to contribute to the engineering community in our own ways that have made our parents so proud.”
At COM DEV, Peter Mabson conceived the concept for a microsat-based satellite constellation and technology to track the worlds shipping from space and lead the team which developed and demonstrated the technology to accomplish this. Subsequently a new company, exactEarth, was formed to commercially implement this system. Since 2010 exactEarth has made significant contributions to maritime safety, surveillance, environmental protection and maritime commerce. Today, exactEarth is the recognised global leader in satellite AIS services and has over a thousand customers in 40 countries. In 2010, exactEarth received the Ontario Premier’s award for Innovation. Mabson graduated from the Engineering Physics and Business Management program at McMaster.
“I have spent my whole career developing complex systems that were deployed into orbit around the earth – in roles ranging from designer, manager, marketeer and business leader. McMaster’s Engineering and Management program was a perfect fit to launch me into that career and I believe that it is very important as a young engineer to learn both STEM and Business skills in order to flourish in today’s environment.
I am honoured to be selected as a Fellow of the CAE and hope to work with my distinguished colleagues to support our young engineers and further the high standard of Canadian engineering.”
